There was a dead silence inside the headmasters' office.
"Oz, what did you need?" James had a stern from on his face as he looked at ozpin. The man seemed to be out of it and was looking right out of the window.
"Oz!" The headmasters head shot up.
"what is it, James?" The grey-haired man had clear bags under his eyes.
"you've not been getting enough sleep have you, Oz?" The old wizard sadly smiled.
"No. There's been too much going on as of late. My gut tells me that something big will happen soon. As a result, I've been trying to remain vigilant." James was confused.
"what do you mean? You haven't told me about any of this." Oz walked to his desk and fell back into his chair.
"lately some peculiar Grimm have been showing up. They're humanoid in appearance and incredibly powerful. A man recently showed up and I... I believe he has the power to drastically alter this war." The generals' eyes narrowed drastically.
"a single man? You can't be serious Oz! How could a single man change the outcome of this war that's gone on for hundreds of years?! It's unthinkable!" Oz just slumped into his chair.
"I know it sounds unreasonable James but he's already accomplished things that we never could have. He defeated several humanoid Grimm and even monsoon! Even a wyvern." His fellow headmaster was speechless.
A wyvern Grimm? Those were creatures of legend that no single huntsman would be able to eliminate.
"not only that. He saved summer rose who we believed was long dead. Right from salems grasp. Though he suffered heavy damage. Currently, he's somewhere in mistral after he went to dispatch another humanoid Grimm. However, he's been missing for a few days so I sent summer... after... him..." ozpin slowly began to lay his head on his desk before closing his eyes.
'sleep well oz. But this man... he could be a great asset to our fight.' There, ironwood began to contemplate the many choices he had made over his life.
"I wish all this could be over. I know that suffering and pain will always exist in the world. But the Grimm cause so much that it's like a chain of misery. The Grimm murder and kill humans which leads to sadness and misery among other humans that then attracts more Grimm. It's a neverending cycle." Ironwood leaned against the wall as he placed his left hand on his face.
"I have hope that the next generation will be able to end this war." The general removed his hand and approached the window that his old friend looked out of.
There he could see a team of girls with doctor oobleck.
"a mission with oobleck... I wish them luck."
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"team RWBY are going on their first mission today! I'm so proud of them!" Summer had a hand on her left cheek with a serene smile on her face.
Hans was looking up at the slowly darkening sky.
'it shouldn't cause too much trouble if I use tier in the night.' Neo was considering the captain's response deeply.
*flashback*
"if that is how you feel, I won't reject you. But I have never been in a relationship before as I am a very lonely person. Please think about that before you accept me." The woman shook her head.
"I don't care if you're lonely or awkward. Who I love, is you. Regardless of whatever flaws you have, I will still love you." Her hand reached to Hans's chest, the two locked eyes.
Hans's face was indifferent, neo, however, had a loving smile on her face.
*flashback end*
She glanced at the white-haired man, her mind completely absent with all her thoughts focused on him.
The man perked up for a second and reaches down for a second. The bear that they sat on flinched at his actions.
The two met and locked eyes. The older man patted a space at his side and neo stood up and walked over. The daughter of roman saw that he was fiddling with a pistol similar to his but identical to the colour scheme that she wore.
He held the pistol up to her by the barrel. Neo took it with wide eyes, she didn't actually expect him to get it done this soon.
'where are his pistols? They always hung at his side... did we leave them in the forest? Is that a sword hanging at his side? I swear that I've seen that sword in one of dad's old pictures.' Neo began to notice a tall forest ahead of them.
'this is the forest where we found hans. Did he take us back here on purpose?' The petite woman sat down next to hans and leaned her head on his body.
Hans glanced to the girl, a small glint of surprise was visible in his eyes. Neo only smirked in response to his surprise.
Summer looked at the two and couldn't help but feel a little jealous. After all, she'd never been in a relationship long enough to be shown that affection. She and qrow only lasted a day. A singular day.
And that was AFTER, the drunken one-night stand. She somewhat envied the girl. After all, hans is quite a nice man. At least in her eyes.
The bear stopped and everyone but hans was confused. Monsoon and kommandant rose from his shadow, the two leapt into the forest and jumped from tree to tree throughout the forest.
After a few minutes of observation, the shadow soldiers returned empty-handed. Hans said nothing and the two sank back into their leaders' shadow.
Neo looked around the scene and noticed the various pools of dried blood.
'oh... were they searching for his pistols? Or other weapons? Come to think of it... are they his semblance?' The werewolf swiftly lifted neo into a bridal carry as the bear disappeared.
Summer landed gracefully on the ground but roman landed straight on his face. The ginger slowly climbed to his feet and dusted himself off.
"could've warned me... but no! Just lets me faceplant onto the floor." Summer glanced to the man with dirt in his hair.
"for a criminal, you're not very alert. I would have expected for remnants most infamous criminal to be a little alert. Especially when you're a former beacon student." Roman scratched his bowler hat and stared at Summer.
"I'd prefer if you weren't so casual towards me. We've never spoken before, I am not your friend." There was a scowl on his face, clear distaste for the mother of Ruby.
"you're very rude. But I don't think you hate me. So why are you being so rude?" The criminal stood up and began to walk as Tier rose from the ground.
"I hate you huntsmen and huntresses. You try to eliminate evil. But it's pointless. You try to make the world better by arresting criminals. But it's pointless. The only way to make this world better is to pull out the evil by the roots. Yet huntsman still strive for a better world. You ignore the cruel reality we live in. I was abandoned by my mother as a child. I suffered torment from everyone around me. The only reason I'm still alive is because I wanted to raise neo."
As roman continued along summers face slowly lowered to the ground.
*smack*
Roman couldn't believe it. This childish woman had just slapped him.
"you moron. If neo is your only reason to live, look back on your past... consider everything. Think! Is there anything you regret? Living for that sole reason isn't bad. But with your self-serving personality, you'd end yourself if she died! Don't you dare say that we huntsmen and huntresses ignore the cruel reality! I suffered years of torture at the hands of a madman! Don't you dare try to lecture me on reality."
Torchwick was speechless.
*flashback*
"you have the potential to be a good man roman. But you squander it with your paranoia. You are aware of the world's cruelty, as am I. But I strive to make it better for the next generation. Meanwhile, you passively sit there and lie like a beaten dog who sees no reason to fight anymore."
*flashback end*
"oum. To think I could forget what Glynda said to me so easily. Its no surprise that she said something like that. Ah, that woman was my only hope before neo. Back in my beacon days." Summer looked at the man strangely.
"Well. Thanks, red. You've cleared up this pessimistic eye of mine. Let's get going. We've kept them waiting long enough."
"agreed." Summer was already on top of tier and waiting for roman. He shot the handle of his cane to a tree and swung onto the wyvern.
"Well then. To beacon we go." Hans nodded his head in agreement.
Tier flapped its wings aggressively and took off into the night sky.
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In beacon, all was quiet. Everyone was asleep.
Except for two.
Weiss was restless after the train incident. And Ruby was worried. The young maiden had repeatedly attempted to message hans on her scroll but he hadn't responded once.
'that boy. He looked like he was just doing as he was told. He didn't seem to have any plan to escape. There must be someone ordering him... but who? Torchwick? No... he hasn't been heard from in the past few days. It must be an unknown person. With the amount of dust on those trains, it's safe to assume this person is affiliated with torchwick. The white fang also were there so it's highly unlikely that this person isn't a Faunus.' Weiss was calmly running through the situation to deduce as much as possible.
'the only way it could be a human is if they have ties to higher-ups in the white fang like sienna Khan or Adam Taurus. But that's unlikely. At this rate, I'm not going to be able to sleep.' Weiss glanced up at Ruby's bunk which was constantly shifting.
"Ruby! Get down here." Whispered yells reached the girls' ears and she climbed down from her bunk to Weiss's.
"what is it, bestie?" The girl sat down opposite her white-haired friend.
"there's a lot going on right now, and I can't sleep. What about you?" Her bestie shook her head.
"I can't sleep either. But it's not because of what happened today. Hans hasn't responded to a single message since he left. Now, mom has been sent to go find him." The younger girl brought her knees to her chest and buried her head in them.
Weiss dragged Ruby into a hug.
"you're scared. Aren't you? You don't want to lose your mother again. And you don't want hans to die. I don't want him to die either. But I hope your mother is all right too. My mother wasn't very present in my life, so I hope that yours can be. If it makes you feel any better, know that I consider you like a sister. You can sleep with me if you'd like." Weiss saw that ruby was slowly drifting away into her slumber.
The thawed ice princess smiled softly and lay the girl down next to her. Weiss held her close and pushed her head into her chest.
"sleep well, bestie." Weiss slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep next to her bestie.
Yang began to shuffle and slowly sat up. The blonde bombshell glanced at an alarm clock saying 3 am. Yang looked over to Weiss's bed and smiled at the two.
'they've become so close. It's nice to see Ruby making such a good friend.' Yang placed her head on her pillow before returning to her dreams.
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